Local miners
allied themselves with unions due to deplorable working conditions
and low wages. In 1931, McIntyre miners supported a nearby miners' strike. Several hundred
McIntyre miners and many from nearby towns peacefully marched through
the town's Main Street. Immediately the Coal Company requested and
received an injunction from Judge Langham, an anti-union judge, to prohibit strike activities.
McIntyre miners belonged to Local 3548, District 2, of the United Mine Workers of
America (UMWA). The struggle to improve working conditions and wages
was fought throughout the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s by miners in local
UMWA unions in Pennsylvania and in other coal producing states.